Exactly three years ago, at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Dina and Arina Averyna experienced a historic drama. Since 2000, the representatives of the Russian national team have not given up gold to anyone, plus the Averyna themselves had a reputation as terminators without fear and doubt. It seemed like they were supposed to win, and only in such a mood, but they brought home silver, fourth place and a soul torn to shreds. As it turned out, it is still bleeding. Sport examines the phenomenon of attitudes towards the Olympics among those athletes who have repeatedly proven their greatness.
Recently, two huge interviews with the Averins were released on the Youtube channel “Talks about Gymnastics” — separately with Dina and Arina. They remember all stages of their careers and, of course, talk a lot about the Olympics. Even three years later, it is clear that the topic did not let them go. And if Dina is able to at least talk about this without tears, then Arina is not. At some point, she is so overwhelmed by feelings that she has to take a break from filming and calm down.
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«I was ashamed. That I couldn't do it, that I let the country down. It's a shame that they greet us like that, and for what? Okay, Dina, but I got fourth place. I didn't agree when they called me the winner,» Arina explains.
The Averinas were already multiple European and world champions at the time of the Olympics. Their coolness and invincibility were proven by the distance — in the near future, few will be able to collect their collection of titles and repeat their signature style of working with apparatus. It was at the Olympics, to their great regret, that they failed, and the reasons here are secondary — was it a conspiracy or an unfortunate accident. The champion of Tokyo-2020 was Israeli Lina Ashram, who is remembered for nothing more than the Olympic scandal and the lost ribbon.
The greatness of the Averyins has not wavered even a centimeter from this. The Olympics is just a point in space and time, in which the result was lower than expected, but did not change the trend. Dina and Arina Averyins are inscribed in the history of gymnastics and are loved by thousands of people around the world.And here it would be good to add some self-irony. You know, raise your hand, lower it and say: «Well, to hell with it.» It's a shame, a bummer, but okay. Especially since the Averyins have a good sense of humor — they even talk about their most serious injuries with laughter. Like, yes, their arms are twisted, their legs started to fail, but it's okay, at least the Olympics were postponed to a later date — there's time to solve health problems. And they really did decide!
But try to turn on self-irony when, in addition to your own ambitions, the good name of a great power depends on you. And 20 years before you, everyone in the arena was impeccable, and you just went and fell off the rope. Naturally, the sisters experienced a state close to lethal in a moral sense. Moreover, it was harder not for Dina, who received silver, who was discussed everywhere and pitied, compared with Lina Ashram, but for Arina with her fourth place.
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«I thought Arisha would jump out of the window. We burst into her room, and she sat motionless on the floor. She didn't talk to anyone. She just swiped away incoming calls,» Dina recalls.
«Silver is at least some kind of medal. I can look at it, touch it, tell myself that it was all worth it. My entire journey was wonderful, despite everything. It's a shame — fourth. It was very offensive for Arisha. Because of this, we don't touch on the topic of the Olympics — initially, never and still do,» she adds.Perhaps, if the sisters were telling all this a couple of months after Tokyo 2020, it would be understandable. The memories are very fresh, the wounds are deep, they haven't healed yet. But even three years later, it weighs on them.
The attitude towards the Olympics for most athletes is something between a childish whim and madness. At the Games in Paris, the iconic tennis player Novak Djokovic — a millionaire, a daredevil and a champion of everything — cried like a little boy after winning the gold medal match against the Spanish wunderkind Carlos Alcaraz. The paradox: this gold did not change anything globally in his life. It did not make him richer, more famous or cooler. But it was damn important to him, just like when he first came to the court as a child.
And if the gold had not happened, it — unclaimed — would have hung over Novak's ear for the rest of his life like an annoying, indestructible mosquito. A strange kind of vanity, when it is not enough for you to be great — you need to be the greatest. Mere mortals cannot understand this important spice in a dish of champion character.
The Olympics sums up the paths of all athletes who go to it, and only if this path exists does victory become truly significant. If I write this text today, and tomorrow I am put on the top of the podium, what will I feel? Nothing. Bewilderment. Some kind of three-step ladder, a round piece of metal on my neck. Why is everyone so eager to get here? They won’t love me for this, and I won’t love myself anymore. They won’t applaud me, and other journalists won’t want to repeat what I’ve done. I won’t remember at night how the rough award ribbon scratched my skin when the medal first hung on my neck. I won’t show it to my children or guests.
But if I have to walk through the desert and mountains my whole life for this medal, sail across all the oceans in any storm, endure hardships and pain, then I’ll probably understand. What if even an athlete's path is inexpressibly difficult, not receiving Olympic gold can completely devalue it.
And yet, as a person who can look at the situation from the outside, I will remind you: it is not the winners who are loved, but those who touched the heart. Dina Averina — touched. Arina Averina — touched.
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